How often is an individual without any police or law enforcement experience appointed as the director of the state police, the director of the state department of public safety or the police chief of a metropolitan police agency?

It happens on occasions, but is the exception to the rule.

Conversely, individuals with no previous experience or qualifications in corrections are regularly appointed as directors of state departments of adult and juvenile corrections. 

Over the years, many attorneys, former police officers, military personnel, politicians, and even a supermarket owner, have been appointed as adult and juvenile directors of corrections.  I should note that many of these appointees have been successful. 

However, I think their appointments reveal what governors and other elected officials think about the qualifications necessary to manage a correctional organization.  Simply put, many have the attitude that anyone can manage an adult or juvenile corrections agency.

The Attitude is Our Responsibility

Part of the responsibility for this attitude lies with our profession for failing to establish the necessary professional qualifications and staff development programs to qualify for these senior managerial and administrative positions.  As a profession, we have not articulated the necessary qualifications, nor have we developed the requisite training.  Consequently, it is impossible for us to expect appointing authorities, which operate in a political environment, to understand what qualifies a candidate to manage one of the largest and most complicated operations in their federal, state, or local governments. 

The American Correctional Association has made great strides in developing training and professional certification programs, and the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) has been a stalwart supporter of professional development and training.  However, the truth is without proper funding, neither of these programs have the depth or breadth to fill the needs of even a majority of the corrections agencies across the nation.  In fact, federal resources for NIC are decreasing while the development needs for the corrections industry are exponentially increasing.

The challenges in developing an adequate staff development program in corrections are not only limited by resources currently being devoted to the task.  In law enforcement, most supervisors, managers, and administrator come from a fairly monolithic group of employees who were subjected to similar pre-service training and assigned to a limited number of functions (patrol, traffic investigation and enforcement, criminal investigation, special weapons and tactics, etc.) during the developmental period of their careers.

In the corrections profession, the employees that are eligible and likely to be promoted to positions of administrative and managerial authority come from a myriad of occupations, disciplines and professions.  These various backgrounds include: security specialists, social and behavioral science backgrounds, health and mental health professionals, occupational specialists, parole and community supervision specialists, as well as general administration and the countless other disciplines involved in operating a correctional system.

It is immensely more difficult to develop a comprehensive management development program for employees coming from such a diverse set of backgrounds than it is in law enforcement when the employees come from a common and limited set of functions.  Nevertheless, difficulty of development should not stand in the way of achieving such a worthwhile goal.

The Solution is Our Responsibility As Well

During the 1960's, when it became apparent that law enforcement would require a massive investment in the improvement of operations and management across the United States, the federal government created the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA).  The mission of this agency was to provide resources for the improvement of training, policies, operations, and management of law enforcement.

Recently, at the author's suggestion, the Executive Committee of ACA passed a resolution that encouraged the federal government to provide funding for staff safety and staff development in corrections.

The idea behind this concept was to request the federal government to authorize funding to the ACA to support a collaborative effort to develop a national training program for the corrections profession.  ACA in collaboration with other national associations and federal agencies such as the National Institute of Corrections (NIC), the Association of State Correctional Administrators (ASCA), the Council of Juvenile Correctional Administrators (CJCA), and the North American Association of Wardens and Superintendents (NAAWS) would develop administrative and management programs that would prepare middle and senior management for executive leadership roles.
 
The intent of the resolution was to seek federal resources so that the ACA could act as the facilitator to begin the development of a national training program for leadership roles in the various jail, probation, prison, parole, and community supervision and juvenile functions throughout the United States.  There was never any intent to create "competition" with NIC or any of the other groups that would be involved.  In fact, the intent was to expand the capabilities of all the stakeholders.  There was never any intention to create national standards for this training or to allow the federal government to articulate our training needs as was suggested by individuals at the delegate assembly.  Finally, this effort would also be very beneficial to women and minorities in our profession.

Regrettably, after the resolution passed both the ACA Executive Committee and the Board of Governors, it was defeated at the Delegate Assembly in the winter meeting in New Orleans in January of 2004.

Until our profession defines what qualifications and training are necessary for leadership in our industry, we cannot expect elected officials and the public to believe any different than they have in the past.  It is our professional responsibility to formulate a national correctional training program, and to train a cadre of highly qualified candidates that are prepared to lead the corrections industry into the 21st century.  It is incumbent that the American Correctional Association is poised to take a leadership role in this responsibility.  After all, it is our responsibility and it is our industry.

About the Author:
Terry L. Stewart is the current Vice President of the American Correctional Association, and has been nominated to be President-elect.  He spent 18 years with the Arizona Department of Corrections serving the last seven, as director.  He encouraged the American Correctional Association (ACA) and the Association of State Correctional Administrators (ASCA) to establish "Staff Safety" committees.  He currently serves as chairman of the ACA Staff Safety and emergency preparedness committee. 
For more information on staff safety and staff development
www.stew4pres-elect.com